


One Missed Call

by CriticalCXGShipped



Category: Crazy Ex-Girlfriend (TV)
Genre: F/M, Series Finale
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-27
Updated: 2018-04-30
Packaged: 2019-04-28 13:22:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,229
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14450145
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CriticalCXGShipped/pseuds/CriticalCXGShipped
Summary: What went through Nathaniel's head after Rebecca pushed Trent off the roof?  How did the night end for him?  How did he break up with Mona?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [itsmeashleymarie](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=itsmeashleymarie).



"Rebecca, I have to pay the bill" Nathaniel pulled out his designated 'signing' pen and feigned interest in the bill, but he felt his heart fill with warmth. He was making a lot of effort not to look surprised, or happy….But… She was here! He had specifically not-invited her, well, specifically told her she was 'not-invited' to this party. There must be a German word for 'not-inviting' someone to a party specifically because you want to move on from them but, well, you don't really want to move on from them and hope it might trigger some gesture from deep inside them? 

He looked down and continued to sign the condiments release form. Who was this joker anyway? He had a weird face like the offspring of a Kennedy who married another Kennedy cousin, except with fake looking overly abundant red-hair. What kind of micro-managing catering firm required condiments release? What a rort! Oh well, he could afford it. 

He noticed Rebecca grow more agitated and the condiments guy start to pin his body against the table with his legs. What the hell was going on? 

In what seemed like seconds, Rebecca shouted out 'No!" flung her arms up and moved towards condiments guy. By the time Nathaniel had risen and turned around, Condiments guy had slipped over the edge of the roof and was plummeting towards the pool. A knife clattered to the ground. In shock, the blurr of guests panicking and asking the same questions over and over flummoxed him. The police took Rebecca away while he was calling Esteban to pick up his mother, who was breathing fast and fanning her face. 

Officers spread out across the rooftop, asking questions, Nathaniel answered them numbly, 'I don't know why he would want to hurt me, Rebecca stopped him though'. "And what is your relationship with the defendant?" the officer asked, disinterestedly. He was looking at his watch and back up to Nathaniel's face.

"Well, she's technically my ex-girlfriend" he said, his ears were roaring, even though the crowd was dispersing now. Many of the other guests had not seen anything and Rebecca's friends were downstairs on the street. 

"Technically?" the officer pressed, his eyes narrowed. He was interested now.  
Mona came over, inserting herself under his arm that was on his hip. He dropped it and put his arm around her instinctively, but then pulled away and stood a few inches from her. Her eyes looked up at his, hurt, she kept her hands by her side. 

"Well" Nathaniel hesitated. He didn't want to say anything to incriminate Rebecca but a part of him was singing in relief and joy as it dawned wonderfully on him that Rebecca was, had been and was still, in love with him. With Him! 

"Well" he said again, the cop started to lose interest again and look at his watch while Mona looked expectantly up at him.  
"Well, the truth is, we were still, close. We were on a break and I was waiting for her to be ready to, um" he looked over at Mona's trembling lip and bulging eyes, she was shivering in the cold and her hair was beginning to frizz in the damp air. He tried to care about Mona's feelings and how hurt she must be at the carnage that their housewarming party had become. He could see all the decisions flash before her eyes, about pot plants, rugs, car spaces, discarded period underwear, 'wrong' coloured towels she had given away, the subletting of her apartment. He wavered for a moment, his parents were still there and waiting to say goodnight, guests were beginning to disperse but could still hear what he was saying. Mona's long nailed hands clutched suddenly at his arm.

"The truth is, I was still in love with her, I kind of knew she would come, but I didn't know anything about….the guy" He finished. The relief of saying his feelings out loud was palpable, he felt lightheaded, like his body was suffused with a glow of, well, feeling good and happy and...loved. 

Mona made a kind of noise in her throat and let go of his arm. The officer continued his questions, before questioning Mona.  
Nathaniel Snr took control, barking orders for the caterers and hired serving staff to escort the remaining guests out of the building, delegated the calling of cabs and ubers to Mona before protectively putting an arm around his mother and sitting beside her on the roof, checking that she had her purse, wrap and scarf against the chill. He didn't look towards him but Nathaniel felt impervious to any of his disapproval now. 

Nathaniel came out of his reverie, demanding the remaining servers clean up the food and remove it from the house. He didn't want it around and sent many guests home with Tupperware. When the flurry of departures had died down, the red and blue lights from the ambulances and police cars remained until, finally, the excitement of the block died away. The sun was already starting to rise.

"Goodnight, Mother, Father" he said stiffly. He was making a decision now. He was in control, maybe for the first time, he was making a decision of his own and not caring about whether it would please anyone else. He kissed his mother on the cheek and shook his father's reluctant hand. There was nothing else to say except that he would see them for lunch soon, at least, he said he would.

When he finally closed the door behind them, he stood for a moment before sighing and turning to face Mona. In the dark of the candlelit corridor her face looked hollow and sad. She looked shrunken now that she had removed her heels, she smoothed her hair pointlessly, the flyaway strands at her temples made her look like a much younger girl. 

"What now?" asked Mona, dejectedly. She wanted him to say that she was the one he loved now, that it was over between he and Rebecca. When he sighed again and shook his head she cringed like she was in pain.  
"How does she still have a hold over you?!" she cried.  
"I try and try to be perfect, we do everything you want to do, I check everything with you, we stick to your diet. I gave up on partying and clubbing for you and it always feels like I'm talking to you through a closed door!" she began to sob, her tears flowing over her waterproof eye make-up, but the vivid red lipstick of her mouth began to spread over her cheeks as she put her head in her hands. 

"I'm sorry" Nathaniel said, putting his hands in his pockets, his face unreadable. 

He felt his phone in his pocket, he pulled it out, there was a notification for 1 missed call. He opened the notification, it was from 3 hours before, from Rebecca, probably on her way over in the cab to come and rescue him. 

"I have to go" He said suddenly, grabbing his jacket. It was about 5 am, he had time to prepare for the case before the holding cell opened and he could see her. "You stay here, I'll find another place, it's not fair to you to have to…"  
"Get out" Mona said coldly, her face red and waxy. She wiped her hands on her dress.  
Nathaniel nodded, he swung open the door and headed down to his car. It was his turn, he thought, to rescue Rebecca.


	2. Nothing is Ever Anyone's Fault

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rebecca just pleaded guilty in court, how is Nathaniel to process the breaking of their alliance based on avoiding moral responsibility? What can be done after Rebecca pleased guilty to attempted murder in the second degree?
> 
> I wrote this as a second chapter of 'Nathaniel Will Handle it" but it made more chronological sense to put it here.

There wasn't any remedy for this. Rebecca's pale face looked determined, free of make-up and with dark circles under her eyes. Her body was encased in that baggy orange jumpsuit and after her speech it was likely she would stay in it for a while. He tried to think of another justification before the judge's ruling, the time seemed to stretch the seconds into minutes and the minutes into hours. He had to think of something, but all he could think about was all the bad things that he had done.

Hours before he had felt so free, Rebecca accepted him with all his faults, he accepted her and the things she had done, they loved each other! They were admitting it at last! Mona and he were done, Rebecca's fake boyfriend was in traction for next 6 months or so. He was breaking the patterns of his family and no longer going to carry that persistent weight of guilt and niggling feeling of being, wrong. But now, she was staring into the eyes of Paula and gaining strength from her. He liked Paula, she wrote a great brief, adhered to his colour coded system for case work in the office and ran rings around all the other staff. Working hard was her default and she could do it with her eyes closed and standing on her head on no sleep with a cold. He respected Paula, but there was something going on here that he didn't understand that he wasn't a part of. But he could, as Rebecca's lawyer, bring up a justification quickly, before the judge made her ruling, or scheduled a recess from hearing evidence.

What did this mean for him? He thought back over his life, the girls he had slept with and never called, the cases he had fabricated evidence for, the times he had done something out of fear of his dad, the times when he pretended to care for Mona. God, he had felt terrible about cheating on Mona a week ago and now he had dumped her, unceremon- wait, ceremoniously, in front of guests in the wake of a drama caused by Rebecca.  
If this Was Her Fault, were all the other things His Fault?  
That meant all his failures really were his, and his father said he had failed by being weak. But Rebecca didn't think those things were weak, the taking sick days, having a long lunch or eating candy, she thought falsifying evidence was bad, lying was bad, cheating was bad. He had twice as many strikes against him on that score.  
He felt sick with a sudden desire to run, run 6 miles, pound the pavement and punish his body, cleanse out the bad, but it had never worked before, why would it work now? What was next then? His own redemption would have to wait, Rebecca was confessing she was guilty to something she had not done. It was too late for an insanity plea, she appeared very much in her right mind and believed herself to be, she would never back him up on it, not with Paula observing. The sense of time dilation faded and he cleared his throat before standing.

"Your Honour! My client told the police on her apprehension that she reasonably believed that another person was in danger of imminent harm from the actions of Trent Maddock, the plaintive who fell from the roof when the defendant attempted to protect this other person". Nathaniel wouldn't look at Rebecca, she knew this was true, even if she knew the trial before the judge was concerned only with a guilty or innocent plea, now was his chance to add a justification. "According to the California penal code, my client can be covered for self-defense in this situation as she feared for the life of another'.

"And who would that other person be, Mr Plimpton?" The judge asked wryly.

Nathaniel cleared his throat again, he had defended a lot of assault cases, but never been part of one. "That would be me your honour".

"Then you wish to appear as a witness in this case?" The judge asked, throwing up her hands? "Or do you have other witnesses that saw this occurr"".

Nathaniel cleared his throat again, thinking fast, he had not thought through that he would not longer be able to represent Rebecca if they took this defense.  
"No, your honour".

"Then we will continue this case when your client has sought alternate council. In the meantime, I post bail for the defendant at $500,000 until that time" The judge ruled and put down her gavel.

This was over.

The baillif moved to remove Rebecca from the courtroom. Who would defend her now? Paula wasn't qualified, Tim was hopeless, Darryl...Darryl, Darryl?!! Oh my God this was terrible, his brown furrowed and he put his face in his hands. Rebecca was right next to him, not moving, not touching his arm, and looking down while the Baillif reclipped her handcuffs and started to escort her away.

Suddenly his face cleared, he looked at Rebecca, his mouth widening in an inane smile, chuckling for a moment, he said a name softly, in excitement, under his breath. "Audra" he nodded at Rebecca, licking his lips and tilting his head. Rebecca looked uncertain, but then her face relaxed and she smiled her lopsided smile, "Audra" she nodded, before she was half pushed, half walked, out of the room. "Call Audra, she will do it for free, just to be able to say she defended me!" she yelled, seeking his eyes as she left the room and went back into custody.

Nathaniel sighed. Audra would fix this. Then his face fell again, but who could fix him? How could he fix all of the things he had done?


End file.
